Young men do not allow the gambling platforms targeting March Madness to drive you into the madness of sports gambling and prediction markets. They promise that their platforms will transform your sports knowledge into the cash needed to live out your fantasies and to provide for your family. They encourage risk which appeals to your impulses to lead while promising you security which appeals to your more rational side. Even if you lose that first bet, many apps will refund your bad decisions with in-app credits. In other words, follow the adrenaline and pursue the cash because you have nothing to lose…well, almost nothing.
The Spiritual Cost
In reality, the apps will cost you your soul. Life is not found in securing quickly gotten fortunes but in obedience to the word of God. Jesus calls young men and all others not to lay up “treasures for yourself on earth…but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be (Matt. 6:19-21).” The faithful man pursues not wealth that perishes but holiness, which last for eternity. Those who get this wrong – even if they attain wealth – will lose their contentment, their happiness and their soul. King Solomon warned his sons to be wary of covetousness and greed warning them, “Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors (Prov 1:19).”
No Work Around
Now some young men will seek to squeeze past Jesus’ teachings with appeals to altruism. They gamble not for themselves but for others. They are placing those $500 bets because they want to buy a new home for their wife or to free their parents from the oppressive weight of their student loans. They are not pursuing greed for greed sake but for the sake of loving others.
Though such ideas glimmer with propriety, they still reside outside the bounds of Scripture. To gamble is to earn income apart from work. When the young man receives his gambling payout, he has not produced one of those widgets from economics 101 or any other good or service. He has not created a pizza for his neighbor, produced a report that helps his company adjust their production numbers, or transferred the knowledge of the multiplication tables to his third-grade class. In placing online bets, young men seek gain apart from all those things…apart from the hard work of studying books, twisting bolts, and crunching numbers. Though our society glorifies such ill-gotten gains, the Scriptures warn young men to avoid that which costs them nothing. Proverbs 20:21 proclaims, “An inheritance gained hastily in the beginning will not be blessed in the end.”
Moreover, the mindset of gain that chases wealth apart from work has, either knowingly or unknowingly, embraced a hope that runs counter to the hope of Christ. Those who chase easy money believe that money can heal their heart and wash away their sins. They think their earnings will lead to less stress, which in turn will lead to better test scores or to a better relationship with their young wife. But such hopes will always disappoint for they lead away from the light of Christ. Jesus warns: “If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness (Matt 6:22).” As Jesus concludes in Matthew 6:24: “You cannot serve God and money.”
Even if you win your millions, you will ultimately lose. The influx of cash will not change, but exacerbate the selfishness that led you to waste m and to fight with your parents or your bride. You will just do so wearing nicer clothes or living in a nicer home. As Jesus notes in Matthew 16:26: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?”
The Financial Cost
And most of you will not gain the whole world. The gambling and prediction market apps can afford to refund that first loss because they know an overwhelming majority of bettors will never ultimately win. According to a study from the University of California only 4% of gamblers earn a net profit.
The other 96% lose their hard-earned money. A U.S. news report found that the majority of gamblers (66%) wager $100 or more a month and that 27% wager $500 dollars or more a month. Those losses often reverberate through the gambler’s life. More than 30% of online gamblers carry debt because of their bets. A quarter (25%) of them have missed a bill payment because of their bets and a quarter (25%) of them now worry that they have become the slave of the app that was supposed to liberate them from financial troubles. In short, those apps will happily cover the young man’s first loss because they apps know that the odds of that the young man become a lifetime loser are in their favor.
Flee the Apps
Young man, flee from gambling apps and prediction markets that seek to entice your souls. Though the apps promise you the glories of this world, they will not give – but take. What Solomon says of the adulterous woman in Proverbs readily applies to the gambling apps seeking to get space on your phones, “For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword (Prov 5:4).” Young man do not follow the gambling apps to your earthly ruin and to your spiritual death. Close your ears to their cries, do not give them access to your phone, and do give them your hard-earned money. Flee from them.
Determine now to acquire wealthy justly and honestly through the godly means of hard work. Slowly and faithfully expand your bank account through plumbing buildings, producing reports, and earning degrees and certificates that will lead to more opportunities for more promotion and gain. As Proverbs 13:11 notes: “Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.” Gain wealth little by little.
Godly Adrenaline
Lastly, prove your manliness not through foolish risks shaped by ill-gotten gain but through taking biblical risks shaped around a love of the Lord and others. Endure the teasing of those who mock you for passing on the next adventure so that you can save for your first apartment or home. Embrace the possibility of rejection and pursue and then marry a godly woman. Then, invite the challenges and blessing of children into that marriage. Risk becoming more involved in your church and bearing the burden of your brothers and sisters in Christ. Venture past the limits of social convention and share the gospel with a coworker and lovingly confront a friend over his sin. Take a chance and pursue political office to promote the flourishing of your neighbors. In other words, chase the adrenaline rush that comes with securing heavenly and avoid those that will fade with the playing of “One Shining Moment.”
Final Thoughts
Young men, the betting apps and prediction markets are calling to you. Guard your life and soul. Do not surrender to the madness of ill-gotten gain which leads to death. Layup for yourself treasures in heaven.
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